Ambient music to me has always been about creating emotional soundscapes that place the listener somewhere—an immersion into feeling. Often that feeling is peace. Sometimes it’s despair, turmoil, or heartthrob. I want to point to three tracks that exemplify what this genre can offer: Tobiume by Susumu Yokota, First Light by Harold Budd and Brian Eno, and dlp 3 by William Basinski. Tobiume is nocturnal, equal parts driving and introspective. It never fails to transport me. I think of a city—an isolated, alien view of vivid nightlife as cars streak past like a long-exposure photo. First Light, in one word, is healing. A dancing piano longingly drifts across a cloud of sorrow, questioning if the feeling will ever lift. And it does, when an ethereal synth passage quietly sprawls across the scene near the track’s end. dlp 3 is despair. It’s grief. During 9/11, Basinski was coincidentally finishing his project The Disintegration Loops. He was so moved by the event that he attributed it to his own perspective of the Twin Towers collapsing in the distant New York skyline, a scene visible in the cover art. Its aching loop claws at the listener, making forty-one minutes feel at once eternal and instantaneous. As I’ve spent time in this genre, my appreciation for how unique a place it sits in the musical landscape has only deepened. About a year and a half ago, I began my own artist journey. I had already built a foundation in visual arts—cinematography and photography—but wanted to push myself. That push became my first track, Wrecking Ball, built around a resonant, ethereal piano, layered with synth passages and guitar. I created the music video and cover art as well, meant to further illustrate the intent behind the track: A feeling of peace, inevitably disrupted.